Turkeys Can’t Talk. We Can.

Turkeys Can’t Talk. We Can.

What happens when you bring together diverse key poultry and turkey players? They talk. They share. And they learn. Novus recently organized such a discussion by bringing a group of Italian customers to Northwest Germany to visit a breeder and a group of turkey producers. At Moorgut Kartzfehn, a leading breeder operation, the group covered innovative breeding and rearing practices. Afterward, the Italian customers appreciated the exchange and discussions with local German producers regarding the main challenges facing the industry.

Topics included diseases, management practices, nutrition and the future. Across the industry, there is definitely more and more focus on animal welfare programs. In Germany, the “Health Control Plan” monitors welfare indicators at processing plants and farms to evaluate the welfare status of the animals. One of the key welfare indicators will be the incidence of foot pad dermatitis.

“A well-adjusted diet supports a healthy intestinal micro-flora balance, maximizes nutrient utilization, thereby reduces the incidence of diarrhea—resulting in a drier and more qualitative litter,” explained Dr. Sven Keller, Sr. Technical Manager Central EME, during the discussion. “AVIMATRIX®is designed to act profoundly on the intestinal microbiota of poultry. While supporting gut health, AVIMATRIXalso demonstrated it helps optimize feed efficiency, can increase growth, and improve litter quality, which leads to a reduction of footpad lesions and their incidence.”

Those benefits were observed by the group at the various phases of commercial production. The first farm had one-week-old animals followed by 8-week and 16-week-old turkeys. Not only had the nutritional aspects raised the interest of the experts, but as well as farm management. In particular, ventilation systems and litter material was one of the topics discussed. The farmers were very open with the group, and one of them explained:

“Healthy animals are the basis for our success and, therefore, we do everything we can to help them stay healthy. This includes good biosecurity and hygiene programs, best management practices, healthy newly-hatched poults and, of course, nutrition. Animal welfare and good foot pad health is key for us and directly tells me how good I am doing my daily job.”